


Liar

by MistressYin



Series: Just A Word [26]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Graphic Description of Injuries, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-09-01 05:53:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16759240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MistressYin/pseuds/MistressYin
Summary: Steve is a ninja and sneaks out the window.





	Liar

**Author's Note:**

> Hello. Hah, the summary is misleading. 
> 
> And the word of the day is...Liar!

Steve slid on is long gloves, pulling down his long sleeves over them, effectively covering the dark purple and yellow splotches.

He winced as the deep bruises on his back dug into his skin, his shoulder blade burning. He had nasty slashes up his thighs to show for talking back, and a long cut on his lip. 

He regretted taking that Wheeler girl over to his house. Her friend paid the price of his selfishness. 

He closed his eyes and hissed as he pulled on his jeans, feeling the ridges burn with irritation at the rubbing. He let out a shaky whine between his teeth as he slid his socks on his scarred and cut feet. Bloody oozed through the thick cotton from the shallow cuts where glass embedded itself. 

He had a feeling today wasn’t going to be fun. 

With a hat securely on his head, he unlatched his window and climbed down, balancing his feet on the bricks. He snorted to himself as he imagined his ‘ninja’ moves. 

Steve was setting out to apologize.

It really had been his fault. They probably shouldn’t of been drinking near the pool anyway. He twisted his thoughts away and managed to get into the car unheard, turning on the engine and not looking back. 

He pulled up before Nancy’s driveway so he wouldn’t alert her parents and walked the short distance to her house, feeling like hell was creeping up his body with every step.

He was pretty sure there was glass in his shoes that he hadn’t seen before. It was killing the arch in his foot. 

Steve walked up to Nancy, staring at his feet fixedly. He heard a distinct swooshed a ducked with a startled sound, flinching away. His back burned with the sudden bend, as did his thighs. He had to bite his lip to keep from crying out. 

Nancy froze and aimed the bat she had been holding to the ground, looking shocked. Steve mused with the fact he had nearly been a hit atop the head with a wooden bat. 

He stepped back, watching her curiously. What was she doing with a bat? 

She let out a startled huff, her face red with the cold. “What are you doing here?”

Steve gave her a once over. “What are you doin’?” He snarked back. 

She shrugged, her eyes still wide. “Nothing.” Her voice was slightly breathless.

“I hope that’s not meant for me.” He looked it up in down as she hid it behind her back, as if he hadn’t seen it come flying at his side. 

He wouldn’t be surprised if it was meant for him. This was all his fault, he reasoned. 

Steve fiddled with his watch for a moment, then shoved his hand into his pocket. 

She seemed not to catch the slightly serious joke. “What?” 

He motioned to the bat. 

“...No no! I—“ Nancy shook her head to clear her thoughts, “...was just...thinkin’ about...joining softball.”

Yep that’s a lie. 

She looked at him a little desperately though, clearly hoping he would drop it. He put his other hand into his pocket. 

“Well, um, listen I’m really sorry.” He admitted, looking to the ground shamefully. When she didn’t say anything, he moved to walk behind her, getting the blood to pump back into his bruised legs. “I mean, until you threatened me with a baseball bat.” He rambled. 

He leaned against the counter they had in front of the garage door gratefully letting his body rest from the strain. 

Nancy followed his turn around, eyes meeting his again. “Okay...” she looked at him in confusion. 

He took that as his cue to keep going. “I panicked...and I was a total dick...”

She rolled her eyes, huffing again. “Yea.” 

Her easy agreement made him refocus on the floor. This was awful. 

“You were.”

He looked back up, hunching slightly. He shifted his sore foot uneasily, more red sloshing through the cotton. 

Then she looked down, meeting his eyes again as if realizing something. “Did you...get in trouble with your parents?”

Not with them, they weren’t in trouble. He was, however. His father’s shouting still rung in his ears, as did the burning of the alcohol dripping into his cuts. 

He was startled she remembered something like that. No one had ever really asked much about his parents’ ire at all. 

“Totally but, you know...who cares?” he shrugged a shoulder, watching her intently from the corner of his eye. “Screw ‘em.” He didn’t even realize he had spit it out until she looked up with raised eyebrows. 

“Any news about Barbara?” he added in a rush. 

This distracted her. She shook her head sullenly with a mumbled negative. 

“Her parents heard from her? Or...?”

She shook her head with tear filled eyes once again. 

Steve took a deep breath, the action sounding loud in the silence. 

He failed at distracting her well, so he quickly walked up to her with a false, small smile. “Hey listen...Why do we uh,” he thought for a moment, “Why don’t we catch a movie.” Escape his father? “Tonight, you know?”

Her wide eyes shifted up to his. She looked hopeful and a little irritated too. 

His back burned. 

“Just kind of pretend everything’s normal for a few hours.” 

Who didn’t like pretending?

When she didn’t say anything, he added, “All The Right Moves is still playing!” his eyes lit up. “You know, with your lover boy from Risky Business?” he laughed at the joke, her lips quirking as she looked to his shoes. 

He smiled at her, feeling his heart race. 

“Yea I know.”

“Okay!” he thought about his lunch-buddies for a moment, remembering what she said with a slight stupid expression. “Carol thinks I actually kind of look like him.”

She mimicked his stupid expression. 

He nodded solemnly while following her gaze at their feet. 

He smirked. “What d’you think, huh?” he moved his head back and forth to demonstrate his face to her. 

Her face still was looking at him like he was a particularly hard math equation. He slid the baseball bat that was between them up to his mouth. “Just take those old records off the shelf!” 

He did a poor impression. “I’ll sit and listen to them by myself!”

Now he was just being a dork. His leg stung with the shift of movement, snapping him back to reality of the wounds all along his body. 

She looked at him abruptly. “I just- I...I don’t think...I can.” 

He frowned in disappointment, slipping the bat back in between her fingers. 

“I’ve been really busy with this whole funeral thing and—“ she sucked in the cold air around them, “With my brother...It’s been really hard on him.”

There was something amiss, something she wasn’t saying but wanted to. He considered asking her about it but just nodded in understanding. He didn’t think his father would tolerate a movie tonight anyway. He had been living in a fantasy world with that suggestion.

“Yeah sure.” Realizing his low tone, he raised his voice. “Sure, yeah, yeah.” 

“So....??”

A pause. 

“I should go.” He realized. She opened an eye apologetically at him.

“Sorry.”

He didn’t tell her it was okay. 

“I’ll call you later, is that okay?” 

No, he wanted to say. His father would kill him, he wanted to say. He just nodded mutely thought. 

She awarded him with a fast kiss on the cheek. “Yeah, Yeah of course.” Steve responded verbally this time, not sure if he was answering her question or just saying it in general.

He patted her on the shoulder than began dancing away, even though it pulled at his cuts. He sang with the same bad impression and watched her laugh quietly at him.

Their had been two liars during that conversation, so he wasn't mad at her.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks again from MistressYin!


End file.
